New Life : A Second Chance

Anyone in the field would know who it is: John Wick, assassin extraordinaire. Legend. Here at the branch office to seek one man: the elusive Mr. X. John had heard from his intel that he was here, so here he was, nonchalantly walking towards the building that Mr X was supposedly at.

He cut a rather dashing figure, in his sleek, dark suit as he walked. Though it appeared like he was merely walking, one could see how his eyes were taking in everything around him. His body seemed to be coiled and ready to spring into action at any time.

A dark figure showed up beside him and his hand went up, shooting accurately despite the fact that he didn\'t even turn his head. Without missing a beat, he swung his arm to the left and let off another shot.

He turned, fired three shots in rapid succession. Turning his head to the right, he fired another two shots. Throwing away the empty gun, he was about to reach into his jacket for another gun when one guy rushed up at him, shooting.

John Wick easily dodged the bullet, grabbed the guy\'s arm that had the gun and pulled him close. As the momentum brought the guy forward, John punched the guy right in the throat, grabbed him by the back of the neck and jumped a bit while wrapping his legs around the guy\'s waist.

John easily used the momentum to bring the guy to the ground. Both of them tumbled, in a roll but while the guy landed on his back at the end of it, John was above him. One leg bent over him while the other was bent on its knee beside him.

Essentially, the guy was inbetween John\'s legs. As the guy landed on his back with John above, his arm was grabbed and twisted by John. Without missing a beat, John took the guy\'s other gun (that was in the holster), shoot three people rushing at him and finally shooting the guy in the heart.

John got up quickly, smoothly and seamlessly as he continued to make shot after shot. Dead bodies were piling up all around yet not a single bullet hit John. His hair was plastered wet with sweat now but it didn\'t even bother him as he moved his head suddenly, flicking that offending hair aside.

He continued on.

A few metres away from John, there was a little shed-like area. Inside, a young boy was standing inside a room, looking at the camera feeds. He turned to glare at the man beside him.

"No," the man said, even before the boy could open his mouth, "You\'re here to observe, not attack. Besides, we want him alive."

The man could feel the intensity of the glare the kid was giving him, even though he wasn\'t looking at him. He shuddered though he tried hard to suppress it.

Schooling his face to appear stern, he then turned to give a final talking to the boy. As he turned, however, the last thing he saw was a fist aiming at his face. Before he could dodge, it hit him squarely inbetween the eyebrows, then a hard chop to the back of his neck.

He fell down, unconscious.

"As if you could stop me," the boy muttered in disdain, kicking the man in the stomach to vent out his anger, "I\'ve been holding back all this time, fool. The only reason I didn\'t kill you is because Boss will do so after I\'m done with John."

The boy looked back to the monitor screen and the corner of one side of his lips went up, "It\'s time for us to finally meet. Before I kill you."

The boy took out his gun, checked it and walked out.

Outside, several guards were taken aback to see the boy go out.

"Zenith," one guy said, "Get back inside. Your orders ..."

"Fuck orders," Zenith said as he shot the guy in the head.

Zenith found it hilarious, seeing the shocked expression on the guy\'s face as his brain splattered all over. His face had this really perverse look of enjoyment as the guy fell back, dead.

He never understood why John Wick would aim for the heart first, and only taking head shots in certain situations. For him, headshots were the best. It was like watching spaghetti fly in the air.

He liked spaghetti.

The other guard didn\'t even have time to take out his gun when Zenith shot him in the head as well. The sounds of gunshots made people come to check it out, their guns out, ready to shoot. However, they all hesitated when they saw who it was standing there.

That was all Zenith needed.

Just like how John Wick was killing people at his side to reach the building, Zenith was doing the same as he headed towards where John was. John would have to pass by Zenith to reach the building, but Zenith wasn\'t going to wait that long. He wanted to personally meet up with John halfway.

Zenith was going through the men like butter. Some tried to shoot him in the leg, but he managed to avoid them. Those he reached, he would either slice their throats with his knife and smile as they gurgled their last breath, or slice their stomach open then shoot them in the head.

Zenith was a dual-hand fighter. His right hand would shoot targets that were far and a danger to him. His left hand would be killing those that were nearby. His signature cold smile never left his face as he killed people around. In truth, he could use either hand for whichever weapon and he would switch if the situation demanded it.

The men were at a disadvantage as they couldn\'t kill Zenith but Zenith had no qualms about killing them. They lamented over their fate. Still, it was better to die cleanly by Zenith, than to be tortured by the organisation for going against orders.

Most of their last thoughts were actually happiness, thinking of the torture Zenith would be going through for this latest act of rebellion.

The camera panned out, showing the two fighting scenes together. John on the left, and Zenith on the right. Finally, as if they were in sync, they rounded the corner and came face to face with each other.

John was stupified. Just as he turned a corner, a lone guy stood there.

No, not a guy. A boy. A young boy.

On instinct, John stopped.

It wasn\'t as if John couldn\'t shoot him - the boy was standing out in the open, with nothing other than one single gun in his hand and a bloody knife in the other. The boy was not moving, his head looking at the ground as if he was thinking hard.

John had ample time to have taken that shot. Yet, for some strange reason, he couldn\'t.

For the first time in his life, he had hesitated.

It was only for a split second, but it was enough.

He brought up his hand to take the shot when the boy spoke, "I guess it\'s true then."

"What\'s true?" John couldn\'t help but ask, his gun aimed perfectly at the boy\'s heart.

The boy didn\'t answer at first, flicking the blood off the knife and storing it in its sheath at his belt. He then raised his gun, looking at it as he began caressing its chamber.

"That blood is thicker than water," he said softly, but still loud enough for John to hear, "I\'ve hated you for so long yet when I finally see you, something just ... stopped me from taking that shot."

Then, he looked up, straight into John\'s eyes and that made John\'s heart skip a beat.

It was only now that he got a good look at the boy\'s face.

"NO," John gasped, unable to stop the words from coming out of his lips.

He was seeing it, but he couldn\'t believe it.

"You know, as well as I do, that either of us could have taken that shot," the boy said, giving him a smile. A smile that mirrored his so much that John\'s mind couldn\'t grasp it.

"And you\'re looking at your own face," the boy continued on relentlessly, "A younger, better-looking version but you can\'t deny what\'s staring at you straight in the face."

"Who are you?" John rasped out through gritted teeth.

"Isn\'t it obvious?" the boy said, his demeanor now suddenly cold. His voice taking a hard edge to it, his eyes narrowed.

John shook his head, refusing to say out loud what was in his heart. It was too incredible. Too ridiculous. The sweat came down his face and into his eyes. John blinked rapidly to get a clear vision. The boy in front of him blurred for a second and when he got his eyes cleared, he was gone.

John looked around rapidly, but could not see a single trace of him.

"Till we meet again," came his voice in the silent air. A slight pause then, he added, "Father."

John stood there, dumbfounded. During the entire exchange, not a single person showed up. Not a single attack was made. John looked towards the Building he had been heading to, knowing that it was now empty and going in would be useless.

The kid had done what no one had been able to do. Stopped him from executing his mission.

John gritted his teeth, his face full of frustration.

The camera panned out, first showing John\'s expression. Then, the area surrounding him - showing John standing alone with the dead bodies he had killed behind him.

The camera panned out even more. In an area that John hadn\'t gone to yet, there was a pile of dead bodies as well. One lone figure was walking away, this time accompanied by several well-armed men around him.

The camera went closer to the boy, whose hands were tied behind his back and the men around him had their guns pointed at him as they walked.

Zenith smiled, sending chills down the spine of every single person there.

?? ??

Chad just couldn\'t believe it. The whole entire scene had taken nearly five days to shoot and there had not been a single mistake made. It was so smooth that Chad thought he was dreaming.

Just as he yelled the last "CUT!!", \'Zenith\'s\' cold smile fell and a cute, excited kid came alive. He turned and took a bow as everyone started clapping.

Keanu smiled and came over, patting Kyle on the shoulders, "You did great, kid."

"Auw, shucks," Kyle said, rubbing his nose in embarrassment. Having your idol praise you would make even the most stoic person all warm and bubbly inside.

Keanu couldn\'t help but fling his arm around Kyle\'s shoulder, rubbing his hair vigorously. Kyle\'s arm flailed about, not really trying to stop him - he couldn\'t! When Keanu stopped, Kyle\'s hair was not only ruffled, it was standing up.

Everyone laughed.